Lockable upholstery edge spring



Sept. 9, 1958 w. M. PlETRUSiKA 2,85

LOCKABLE UPHOLSTERY EDGE SPRING Filed Oct. 21, 1957 'IN V EN TOR.

Walter/VI. Pz'eiruszka BY G ' j A' ORNE-Y LOCKABLE UPHOLSTERY EDGE SPRING Walter M. Pietruszka, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor to Kay Manufacturing Corp, Brooklyn, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application October 21, 1957, Serial No. 691,347

3 Claims. (Cl. 155--179) This invention relates to auxiliary edge springs for upholstered furniture and particularly to the type shown in the copending application of Edwin G. Krakauer, Serial No. 588,358 and my prior application Serial No. 629,048, to which applications reference is made for a detailed description of the spring and of the environment in which it is employed.

Such auxiliary springs are particularly useful for soft edges on the furniture seat-wherein spaced zig-zag or similar main springs span the seat frame from front to back. In application Serial No. 588,358 the auxiliary spring is attached at its inner end to the main zig-zag spring and its outer end is attached to a border wire arranged above the frame in the general manner shown in Fig. 2 hereof. The auxiliary spring is also shown interposed'between the main spring and a side extension of the border wire in said application No. 588,358. However, the outer ends of the wire auxiliary spring there shown are'overlapped and secured by a clip to the border wire. It has been found difiicult for operators to manipulate both ends of the spring the border wire and a clip at the same time and to hold them in the proper position while the operator secured the clip to the spring ends and to the border wire by means of a suitable tool which he must also manipulate. In one form of the auxiliary spring shown in application Serial No. 629,048, the

ends of the spring are secured together by means of a clip thereby requiring a separate operation.

The present invention aims to avoid the disadvantages mentioned by the provision of an auxiliary spring which is substantially universal in character, that is, which is capable of use either in a spring structure in which the ends of the main spring are secured to the frame and the auxiliary spring acts as a cantilever, or wherein the outer end of the auxiliary spring is attached to the frame and the end portion of the main spring serves as a cantilever, the ends of the auxiliary spring being locked together and to the main spring simultaneously merely by booking the inner end of the auxiliary spring thereto and without the need for a clip or any additional difficult operation.

The invention further contemplates the provision of a universal edge spring wherein the inner end portions are overlapped and normally urged into transverse registration and contact with each other in such a manner that the overlapped portions are locked together against relative movement by a pair of adjoining cross bars of the main spring regardless of whether the auxiliary spring is arranged above or below the main spring, whereby the auxiliary spring becomes in effect a onefpiece endless generally O-shaped spring.

The various objects of the invention will be clear from the description which follows and from the drawings, in which Fig. l is a fragmentary top plan view of the edge portion of a typical spring structure showing the auxiliary spring in place extending above the adjacent portion of the main spring.

1 United States Patent Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of Fig. 1 taken on the line 2-2,

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing the auxiliary spring below the main spring and attached to a border wire.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the auxiliary spring showing in dash-dot lines the adjoining cross bars of the main spring which lock together the overlapped ends of the auxiliary spring.

Referring to that form of the invention shown in Figs. 1-3, the main spring 10 is illustrated as of sinuous form having adjoining cross bars 11, 12 joined by open loops as 13, though it will be understood that any other zig zag shape having cross bars to engage and lock the ends of the auxiliary spring 14 may be satisfactorily employed. A clip 15 is shown pivotally securing the end cross bar of the main spring to the frame 16 in the usual manner, but said cross bar may instead be rigidly secured to the frame in a manner which is well understood and hence which need not be illustrated nor further described. The outer end of the. auxiliary spring 14 is secured to the border wire 17 as by the clip 18 while the inner end of said spring is hooked about the cross bars 11 and 12 of the main spring in substantially the manner shown in the above mentioned copending applications.

It is the structure of the end portions of the spring 14 which enables said portions to be adequately locked together without a clip and against undersired separation,

which constitutes a feature of the present invention. As

best seen in Fig. 5, the auxiliary spring 14 is made of a single piece of Wire having a pair of transversely spaced apart coextensive rearwardly extending legs 19 and 20 integrally joined at the outer or front ends thereof by the cross bar 21. Each of the legs is continued forwardly from the rearmost point thereof to form a generally 8- shaped hook. For the leg 19 the hook comprises the longitudinally spaced apart bends 23 and 25 joined by the substantially straight part 24. Thebend 23 extends through an arc of somewhat less than 180 and is designed to receive a cross bar as 12 of the main spring.

- The bend 25 extends through an arc of somewhat less than and is adapted to receive the adjacent cross bar 11 of the main spring. The bends 23 and 25 face in opposite directions to attain the desired locking efiect and may be arranged substantially coplanar with the leg 19. However, the extension of said leg 19 does not terminate at its S-hook but continues therepast as will soon appear.

At the rear or inner end portion of the leg 20, there is provided an integral second terminal S-hook similar to the first S-hook at the corresponding or transversely aligned portion of the leg 19, and comprising the bends 23a and-25a joined by the substantially straight part 24a. The extreme end 26 of said hook is at the end of the bend 25a in distinction from the bend 25 past which the wire material of the spring is continued for a considerable additional distance to form a U-shaped connecting portion producing what is in effect a closed spring without directly securing the free ends thereof together until the spring is arranged in its operative position in a spring structure and'stressed. The U-shaped extension comprises .the transversly directed bend 27 continuing into the cross bar 28 which is integrally connected: to a thi'rcla S-hooks are firmly pressed into transversely aligned registration and contact with each other by the spring action of the front bends 31 and 32 which join the legs to the front cross bar 21, though said hooks may be forcibly but undesirably separated transversely or laterally against the spring action of said bends because of the lack of a securing member therebetween before the auxiliary spring is assembled to the main spring.

As has been indicated, the rear end of the auxiliary spring 14 is hooked about selected adjoining cross bars as 11 and 12 of the main spring in either of the positions shown in Figs.v 2 and 4 wherein the cross bar 11 enters the bends 23, 23a and 23b of the three rear S-hooks and the cross bar 12 is received in the bends 25, a and 25b of said hooks. In the form of Fig. 2, the parts 24, 24a and 24-5 pass from under a point of the cross bar 12 forwardwardly to a point above the cross bar 11'. It will be understood that the border wire 18 is tied down to the frame or other part of the structure in the usual manner which need not be described, whereby the auxiliary spring is initially loaded or prestressed sulficiently to lock it to the main spring. Upward movement of the border wire past a limiting position is thereby prevented so that the S-hook connection to the main spring cannot loosen.

In that form of the invention shown in Fig. 4, the parts 24, 24a and 24b pass from a point above the cross bar 12 to a point underneath the next cross bar 11 and the legs 19 and 20 of the auxiliary spring are underneath the upwardly and forwardly extending cantilever portion 33 of the main spring 34. The middle portion of the main spring is crowned or shaped convexly upwardly to aid in forming a properly crowned seat, while the front end of the main spring is secured to the border wire 17a by means of the clip 18a. At the front end thereof, the auxiliary spring 14 is secured to the frame 16 in any suitable manner as by means of the clip 15a passing around the front cross bar 21 thereof. The border wire 17a is also tied down to limit the upward movement thereof, to prestress the auxiliary spring and the cantilever portion of the main spring and to determine the shape of the edge portion of the upper surface of the finished cushion.

In all the forms of the invention, any separating movement in any direction of the terminal registering S-hooks is prevented when the auxiliary spring has been hooked to the main spring and prestressed, since the cross bars 11 and 12 lock all three hooks frictionally against such movement even under severe loads and without the need for any clip weld or other fastening device. It will be understood that the bends of the hooks are properly dimensioned and spaced to fit the cross bars of the main spring and to avoid lost motion therebetween, though said cross bars are sufficiently resilient to adjust themselves to a certain extent to inaccuracies in the spacing of the bends.

It will now be seen that the auxiliary spring herein disclosed is adapted for use in various positions and with generally zig zag main springs of various shapes to produce different types of spring structures and hence may be designated as universal in character; that said auxiliary spring is effective as a one piece endless or generally O-shaped wire spring when hooked into its operative position and consequently locked at its ends without the need for fastening means other than the main spring and that said auxiliary spring is capable of being quickly and easily installed in spring structures of various types.

I claim:

1. A clipless and jointless O-shaped auxiliary spring of a single length of wire comprising a pair of substantially parallel transversely spaced apart coextensive legs, a first cross bar integrally and resiliently joining the front ends of said legs, the cross bar and one of the legs being arranged at a portion of the length of wire intermediate the ends thereof, the other of the legs being arranged at one end portion of said length, a first S- hook coplanar with and at the rear end of said one leg, 2. second S-hook and a third S-hook transversely aligned with each other and with the first Shock and each having a bend therein facing in one direction and another bend facing in the opposite direction, and a U-shaped member including a second cross bar integral- 1y joining the first and third of the S-hooks, the second S-hook being in pressed overlapping contact with and in registration with the third S-hook and terminating in a free end disposed at a point forwardly of the S-hooks and adjacent said other leg, and said third S-hook terminating in a free end in lateral spaced relation to the free end of the second S-hook and adjacent the end of the second cross bar, the first S-hook being in transverse spaced relation to the second and third S-hooks, the corresponding bends of all of said hooks being substantially identical and the S-hooks being adapted to be locked together against relative movement on the entrance of adjoining cross bars of a main zig zag spring into the respective bends of the hooks and the pre-stressing of the auxiliary spring.

2. The auxiliary spring of claim 1, the bends of each of the S-hooks being longitudinally spaced apart, the corresponding bends of the S-hooks being transversely aligned with each other, one of the bends of each S-hook facing forwardly and the other of the bends facing rearwardly.

3. In a spring structure, a one piece clipless jointless auxiliary wire spring O-shaped in outline, said spring comprising a pair of transversely spaced apart legs, a first cross bar integrally and resiliently joining the front end of one leg to the front end of the other leg, a first S-hook at the rear end of and copolanar with said one leg, a second cross bar at the end of and extending transversely from the first S-hook toward the other leg, a second S-hook substantially identical with the first Shock and transversely aligned therewith and arranged at the end of the second cross bar and having a free end arranged inwardly of said other leg, a third S-hook at the rear end of said other leg and outwardly overlapping the second S-hook and urged into transverse registration and pressed contact with the second S-hook and having a free end adjacent the end of the second cross bar, the free end of the second S-hook being arranged forwardly of the rear end of the second leg, each of the S-hooks having a pair of longitudinally spaced apart bends therein, and a sinuous main spring having a pair of adjoining cross bars each entering three corresponding bends of the Shocks and maintaining the hooks frictionally against relative movement in all directions when the auxiliary spring is stressed.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,709,483 Weinberger May 31, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,135,133 France Dec. 10, 1956 

